Improved grahm-drier



J. s. BUELL su s. A. W. MARSH.

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.5a ffza; @MANS mi mawmm I r M UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JONATHAN S. BUELL AND SAMUEL A. XV. MARSH, OF BUFFALO, NEYV YORK.

IMPROVED GRAIN-DRIER.

To .all whom' it may concern:

Be it known that we, JONATHAN S. BUELL and SAMUEL A. W. MARSH', of Bufa1oin the Acounty of Erieand State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulimprovements in the apparatus for introducing a blast 5 of hot air into kilns fordrying gra-in, malt, hop's, broom-corn, lumber, staves, and all similar substances; andr we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof', reference being had to the aecompanying dra-win gs and to the letters of refer-4 ence marked thereon,in which- Figure 1A is a plan or top view' of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a Vertical longitudinal section through the line y y.

Our invention ,and Vimprovement consists, tir-st, in the combination and arrangement of apparatus by which thel products o f `combustion from a steam-boiler furnace or other fireplace are exhausted and forced or caused to pass through a reheating fire-place, -and through pipes in to a kiln or grain-drier; second, in the combination and arrangement of the dampersV and pipes with the furnaces and fan, by means of which the heated'air is exhausted from the furnace or furnaces and forced or blown through pipes into the air-chamber of the kiln or graiudrier; third, the combination and arrangement of a pipe or pipes with graduated openings or with graduated vlengths and graduated openings with a rotaryfan, by means of which a bla-st of hot or cold air is conducted,forced,- or blown into the air,- 'chamber ot' a kiln or drying apparatus, and equally distributed through all parts thereof, as hereinafter more fully described; fourth, the combination of a damper or slide with the pipes by means of which Athe external air is admitted into the pipe when required, and the draftof the boiler-furnace thereby regulated, ashereinafter more fully described..

We construct our furnace, A, for burning coke or anthracite coal, of the usual form and 'ofvsuch dimensions as the size of thekiluor drying apparatus may require. We place it in convenient proximity `t0 a steam-boiler, B, and suiiiciently distant from the kiln' or drying apparatus to allow'the rotary fan R to be placed between said furnace and the kiln or drying apparatus.

Ve construct-,a pipe, C, leading from the smoke-pipe D vof the steam-boiler' B .to an opening, F, into the upper part of the furnace Aj above the fire, said pipe G, in connection with the smokepipe D and chimney E, fur'- nishing a direct draft in the furnace A, when the fan R is Inot in operation. Between the point of intersection of the pipes C and D and 'the chimney E we introduce a damper, J, by f means of which,when required, we prevent- .the heat from escaping from the smoke-pipe D into the chimney E. From an opening, G, p on the oppositey side of the furnace from the opening F, we construct a pipe, I, leading to Itat'opposite sides at the center, as represented at H, Fig.'1, and in this casethe pipe C, leading from the smoke-pipe D, is divided and connected with the furnace by branches,v

as represent-ed at K, Fig. 1, so that the connection of each furnace withy the rotary fan R and thesmokepipe 4D may be perfect and complete. Leading from the rotary fan to the kiln or apparatus for drying is a pipe, Q, which may be extended the lwhole length of the air` chamber of the kiln,- and which has graduated openings or "apertures S in that part of the pipe which is within the air-chamber, for the egress of the heated air, said'opcuings being. larger on 'that'partot the'pipe which is nearest the end ofthe airchamber at which said pipe 'Qzenters and gradually diminishing in size as the force of the vblast of hot air diminishes, so as to favor and produce a uniform and equal distribution of hot air through all parts of the air-chamber, 0r the pipe Q may be divided into branches of graduated or different lengths., with graduated openings, if such construction may be thought better cal-A culated to promote a uniform distribution of the heated air, the length of the respective pipes being proportioned to the number .of

pipes introducedinto the air-chamber. i Thesepipes'may be made of any form that economy or convenience may dictate, and the openings or apertures may be furnished with dampers or slides '-l, by means .of which the size of the openings or apertures may be increased or diminished, as circumstances may require, or

a rotary fan, R, and connected therewith at4 If two furnaces are used the pipes I leading. therefrom'are connected with the 4rotary fan apparatus, should in all cases be placed at Y the lowest part'of the air-chamber, in order more surely to secure a uniform distribution of the heated air. y

'Ihe rotary fan R-.may be placed at any vconvenient point between the furnace A and the smoke-pipe D, being connected with the pipe C in a manner substantially the same as,

:hereinbefore described, so as when in motion l1o exhaust the surplus heated air from the smokepipe D, and force or flow said heated air over the lire in' the furnace A into and through the pipe Q, into the air-chamherof the kiln .or drying apparatus; but to this' position of the rotary fan there' are many and serious objections, among which is the resistance to .be overcome when the heated air has 'to be conducted or blown -sorn'e distance, rev,q uiringadditional force to propel it ;l and, also,

the rotary fan, being thus placed, interferes with .the ,natural draftvot' the furnacewhen the fan is not in use. Therefore we prefer to locate the rotary fan near the kiln or drying apparatus, and between the kiln and therrfur-l nace, so that when in motion 4the heated .air

' maybe exhausted over the re in the furnace or furnaces and then. forced 'or blown through the pipes with graduated openings-into the air-chamber of the kiln or drying apparatus.

The object of our arrangement is 'to secure an' equal andnniform .distribution ot heat throughout the air-chamber, lor when the- '.heated air is forced'into theair-chamber with great velocity, without the -use of pipes with graduated openings or of pipes with 'graduated lengths and graduated openings, it is nnequally distributed and consequently the drying .capacity of the kiln is greatlyreduced. This diiculty-may be partially over come, however, by introducing at right angles tothe direction of the blast a partit-ion' of sheet-iron in such amanner that, whilea sufcien't quantity of the blast maybe allowed topass beneath and beyond the partitiomthe balance of thejjblast may be stopped and v caused to rise, thusbeing distributed over that part of the air-chamber not before supplied. Again, when the hea-ted air-blast is used in connection with a kiln having a perforated horizontal plate, the furnaceV is usually placedwithin and at one end of` the aircham her. By this arrangement that part of the substance to be driedwhich is directly over the fire receives the least portion of the heat l ,when the fan is in motion, and if the fan is not in motion the heat rises vertically and ex. poses that part of the substance to .be dried whichV is directly over the furnaceto the danger of Ybeing burned.

stances that have been suiiiciently dried or 'cured by exposing in a cooling apparatus to v a blast of cold air forced or driven into ,theft air-chamber-of said apparatus by means lof .a rotaryA fan R, and pipes Q, with graduated openings S, motion being communicated to the rotary fan as before described.

Having thus described our invention and improvement, .and while we do not claim the process-ot' blowing ory forcing a blast of air over a coke or anthracite fire, as is set`forth in Letters Patent .dated January 13, l1863,

issued to Sylvester Marsh, what we claim,-`

and desire to secure'by Letters Patent,- is- 1. `The combination, with a. grain-drier and 'with a furnace for steam-boilers or other fire-- place, of a reheating-furnace and a fan-blower, when thelatter isso arranged in a pipe or pipes leading-from the primary fire-place to the graindrieras'to receive or exhaust the products of combustion from the primary re and force or cau-se the same to pass through the .reheating fireplace into the y'grain-drier,-

substant'ially as and for the purpose set forth. l 2. The combination and arrangement of the vdamper J and the'pipes D, C, and I .with the furnace A and the rota-ry fan R, substantially as andfor the-purpose setvfort'h. l

3.? The combination ofthe pipe Q, or its equivalent, with graduated openings, with the rotary fan It for blowing either-a hot or cold blast, substantially as and for the purpose set forth., i

4. The' combination of the damper V with the pipe C for. .the purpose of regulating the dra-ftof the boiler-furnace, substantially as .and for the' purpose set forth.

JONATHAN S. BUELL. SAMUEL A. W. MARSH Witnesses to signature of J. S. Buell:

TowNsEND DAVIS; EDwD. B.- SMITH. Witnesses tosignature of S. A. W. Marsh:

L. A. ROBERTS, J AMES T. GRAHAM.

We remove-the artilicial heat from the sub-"- 

